


The Gift

by funygirl38



Series: The Path [6]
Category: Loki - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Gift, Young, dagger - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-17
Updated: 2015-05-17
Packaged: 2018-03-31 01:05:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3958639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/funygirl38/pseuds/funygirl38
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fen wants the dagger on display at the stall in the city square. Loki must decide whether he is old enough and if the gift is worth the trouble it might well cause between Eidra and himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Gift

THE GIFT 

 

 

 

“Papa, look!”  
Loki paused, glaring uselessly at Fen who was staring hard at the vendor's wares in the next stall.  
“Do not interrupt me, Fenris,” Loki tilted his head to the vendor before him, dropping a couple coin into the man's outstretched hand, “Now...are we agreed upon this price?”  
The vendor eyed the coins, regarded the ax head lying on the cloth at his boots and nodded.  
“Aye, uh...,” he grunted as he bent down to retrieve the head, wrapping it in it's own piece of heavy muslin, “ 'Tis fair....you'll be wanting a handle, I'll wager?”  
Loki waved a hand at him, “I know someone who is a skilled carver. He shall supply me with what I need.”  
The vendor dropped the two silver coin into a dirty, stained pouch tied to his belt, “As you wish.”  
Loki gave the man a condescending smile before continuing on to the next stall where Fen stood open mouthed before the various daggers and swords laid eye level upon a velvet red cloth draped over a crude table.  
“Finest steel in all the realms!”   
Loki glanced at the blond woman standing behind the table, hands on her hips adding girth to her already wide frame. She was dressed not in the garb of a woman, rather, she sported a tan tunic and a pair of dark breeches.  
“Indeed?” Loki put a hand on Fen's shoulder, keeping him out of reach of the sharp blades.  
“She speaks the truth..,” came another voice from the interior of the stall.  
Loki leaned to one side, peering behind the woman to see a man sitting on a low stool, polishing a broadsword with a piece of linen.   
“Papa, I want a dagger like yours!”  
Loki squeezed his shoulder, “Who taught you to be so bold? We do not ask for things in such a manner.”  
Fen gazed up at him, looking far younger than his nearly six seasons, “Mm....might I have a dagger like yours?”  
Time stood still for him, shutting out the people milling about the marketplace, the purring cluck of hens in a cage, the shout of another vendor across the way calling for customers to sample a fresh slice of bread, laughter, the cry of an unhappy child.  
He'd been presented with a dagger when all of four and a half seasons, could recall with perfect clarity the day the Allfather had placed it in his small hands, proceeding, for the space of an entire afternoon, to teach him the proper way to handle his new weapon.  
“You must treat her with respect,” Odin had cradled his hands as they both gazed down at the knife, “For she may be your closest friend, as sure and steady as a lover...,” Odin had lifted the knife from his hand to flick the needle sharp tip atop the pad of his forefinger. He had cried out, thrusting the wounded digit into his mouth to capture the droplet of blood which sprang to the surface.  
“......but also may she become your worst enemy, ready to strike you dead if you are careless.”  
It was an afternoon which would live forever in his memory. A rare day, a rare circumstance where Thor never rushed into the courtyard to push his way between Odin and himself, clamoring for the Allfather's attention.  
Loki bent forward, examining the daggers, watching Fen from the corner of his eye, ready to snatch his hand away if the boy's hand moved to touch them but his eldest son merely stood silent, waiting.  
One of the daggers slid from the cloth before Loki's eyes and he straightened to stand.  
The woman was tossing the dagger first to one hand then the other, “Its weight is true. Perfectly balanced. Good for close combat, throwing....”  
“It is much too large, 'twould look like a sword in my son's hand..” Loki shook his head, fighting down a grin as he heard Fen pant with excitement.  
The man who'd been sitting at the stool stood up...and up until his head brushed the ceiling of the stall tent. He reached over the woman's head, snatching the dagger from her hand.  
“Gimme that. Begging yer pardon, my friend. Minna here likes to assume she knows the wants of a customer when I told 'er to ask first. Yer wanting a dagger for the boy are ya?”  
Loki was surprised to find he had to look up at the man. It wasn't often he was made to do so.  
“I am. It will be his first.”  
Fen had, by now, backed into Loki's legs, his hand stealing up to cover Loki's, still at his shoulder.  
The man bent down behind the table. The muffled clink of metal filled the interior of the stall. When the man stood up again, he had, in his hands, three daggers. They looked almost toy-like in the man's wide palms.  
He set the daggers down on the velvet cloth and pointed to the ones on either end, “These two were made by Vedic at his forge,” he wrinkled his nose, “Oh they are fine blades, mind you, but the one in the middle...,” he ran a log sized finger along the ornate handle, “...this one is dwarven steel.”  
Minna winked at Loki, “Oh yes! 'Tis the best value for your coin.”  
Fen, his initial fear of the tall man, dissipated, moved forward until his chin touched the velvet cloth. Loki reached for the middle dagger, heard Fen draw a deep breath and he smiled.  
The dagger felt well balanced though it was rather small. He held the blade up, sighting down the edge, spying Minna's eager face dully reflected back at him.   
He took Fen's hand, setting the handle of the dagger into his palm, “Close your fingers. How does it feel?”  
For a moment, the boy was speechless as he regarded the dagger with wide eyes.  
“Not too heavy...,” Fen pointed the dagger away from him, sighting along the blade as his father had done.  
The tall man gave a chuckle as Loki looked to him with a nod, “And your mother will take me to task were I to buy it for you...,”  
“I will keep it a secret Papa, I promise. I will keep the dagger hidden...it is so pretty!”  
“Pretty indeed,” Loki took the dagger from his hand, “...and when you had need of it to defend yourself, where would it be? Hidden beneath your mattress at home? No...,” he handed the dagger to Minna and Fen's face fell but briefly as his father reached for the pouch of coins at his waist.  
“Have you a thigh scabbard for it?” Loki asked Minna as she set the blade on the table.  
“We have that, though 'tis a poor companion for so fine a blade,” the man rumbled, disappearing below the table again, emerging with a small plain leather scabbard which he handed to Minna.  
“What is the price for such a fine blade then?”  
The tall man frowned in concentration, Loki's attention drawn by a snatch of conversation from two women passing behind him.  
“.....the King's wedding. I cannot imagine curtseying to a Queen from Mid..”  
“Five gold coin, and that includes the scabbard.”  
Loki watched Fen look from the dagger to him and back again, “Hmm, such an expensive item would take time to work off. Extra chores perhaps?”  
Fen was fairly hopping from foot to foot, “Yes, Papa, yes. I will help care for the horses, I will weed the garden, I will even gather the eggs every day.”  
“That is your sister's chore..”  
“Then I shall do her work as well!”  
Loki loosened the drawstring of the pouch, fishing about the interior until he had five gold coins clasped in his palm. He dropped them with a merry clink, into Minna's hand.  
Smiling wide, she slid the dagger into the plain scabbard and handed it to Loki.  
“A pleasure doing business with you, sire.”  
Loki grimaced as he turned away though he needn't have worried. The boy, if he'd heard Minna's address, paid no attention, so intent was he upon the dagger in his father's hand. He could have led his son through the crowd merely by dangling the blade before his nose so attached did he appear to the thing.   
As they continued through the throng of people toward the community paddock, Loki pulled Fen to his side.   
“You will not hide this dagger. You will learn the proper way to care for it, to use and respect it then your mother cannot object.”  
“She cannot?” Fen stood aside as Loki entered the paddock to fetch Lightning who stamped his hoof, eager to be out of the city.  
“Perhaps cannot is a poor choice of words,” Loki put the scabbard into one saddlebag, depositing the ax head into the saddlebag on the opposite haunch, and took Lightning's reins, guiding him toward the gate, “What say you to may not?”  
“I would prefer will not,” Fen laughed as Loki lifted him onto the horse.  
Loki mounted Lightning, took up the reins and looked down at his son, “I share your preference.”

“Mama! Father and Fen have returned!” Brenna stood peering out the window by the door  
Eidra paused, glancing toward the cottage door, “I expected to be finished laying out your dress before they arrived. I hope he has nothing he wishes to set on the table.”  
Before Eidra could start to pick up the pieces of linen, however, Brenna called to her, “They are heading to the stable. They are not coming in.”  
Eidra set the linen pieces down, joining Brenna at the window. She could see Fen running back and forth in front of Loki, stopping at the horse's saddlebag, running back to Loki. He was clearly excited by something.  
“I shall return in a moment. Continue with your mending,” Eidra took her cloak from the pegs by the door.  
“Yes, Mama,” Brenna sighed, dropping heavily into one of the rocking chairs before the fireplace.

Loki set the ax head, still wrapped in its linen cover, upon a bench along one side of the stable wall. On the morrow, he would ride to Chris's house and ask him to carve a handle for it. When he drew the scabbard out of the saddlebag, he thought Fen was going to climb up his leg.  
“Might I have it Papa? Might I?”  
Loki looked about the stable as if he half expected Eidra to materialize out of thin air, knelt down to the ground and unbuckled the scabbard straps.  
“Come here, let me fit the scabbard to your leg,” Loki wrapped the straps around Fen's thigh, at once knowing he would have to make another hole in the leather for the straps to be a tight enough fit for the boy's leg, “Now let us go out to the tree line and find a sturdy target. I would see just how true this dagger flies.”

 

Eidra scanned the stable. Lightning was in his stall, working at his feed trough. Blackberry was in her stall laying down. Loki and Fen were nowhere to be seen. Had they doubled around while she was walking into the stable? She turned about, looking down the path toward the cottage, a hand on her hip.  
“Where have they gotten off to?” she muttered, emerging into the sunlight again.  
She circled around the stable until she could see the path to the fields. It was there she spied Loki and Fen a good distance away, heading for the trees. She thought to shout for them to wait. Instead, with a heavy sigh, she started off, following the same path they'd taken.

 

Loki spied the tall hickory a few dozen steps inside the tree line. “There, my boy. There be our target.”   
Fen nodded, grasping the handle of the blade as he began to rush forward but Loki put a hand on his shoulder, reaching for the dagger before he could unsheathe it, instead performing the action himself.   
He knelt on the ground before Fen, taking the boy's trembling hand in his own as he recalled the words Odin had said to him.  
“My son, this dagger is more than just a weapon, it possesses a soul, which you, the owner must respect...”  
Fen nodded vigorously, “I shall, Papa.”  
“For she may be your closest friend, as sure and steady as a lover...ready to defend your life without fail...”  
Loki lifted the blade, pointing it downward at the tip of Fen's index finger..then he glanced up at his son's trusting face, his bright blue eyes shining as he waited ever so patiently for his father's next words...and Loki found he had not the will to wound one whom he so cherished, lesson be damned.  
“......but also may she become your worst enemy, yearning to strike you dead if you are careless.” Loki lowered the dagger, setting the handle back into Fen's palm, “Do you ken?”  
“I do Papa,”  
Loki searched Fen's face. Satisfied, he stood up, guiding Fen to the tall tree.

 

Eidra pulled her cloak tighter about her shoulders, watching them as they stood there talking. When Loki knelt down to talk to Fen, she was sure he meant to prick the boy's finger with the tip of the wicked looking blade. She would have cried out if he had done so but after a brief heart stopping moment his face had fallen and he'd laid the dagger in their son's hand. She kept herself behind the fat stumpy tree, watched them for a short time as they took turns throwing the blade at a distant tree, only then deciding that it was safe to reveal herself as Loki flicked the dagger with deadly accuracy at a worn spot in the hickory bark once more.  
“Well done.”  
Loki spun around while Fen stumbled to the ground in his effort to reach the tree and yank the dagger free.  
“Eidra, the gods wept! You like to have startled me out of a season's growth!”  
“Forgive me. I tried to be as loud as possible but you were caught up in your lessons,” she watched Fen working at the handle of the dagger, “Oh Loki please help him before he cuts himself!”  
But before Loki could take a step, Fen had unseated the blade and was hiding it behind his back.  
“Come show your mother your new weapon,” Loki gestured to him.  
As Fen approached, Loki noted the boy's face was flushed scarlet.  
“Papa bought me a dagger so I would be safe when I was out in the woods playing,” Fen handed the dagger to her handle first like Loki had shown him, “He was showing me how to throw it.”  
Eidra held the dagger gingerly, examining it, “A fine blade. Just your size.”   
Her instinct was to hand it at once to Loki but she knew how heartbroken Fen would be, could see the yearn for her acceptance in his eyes. She handed the dagger back to him with a smile, watching as he carefully sheathed it into the scabbard.  
“It is growing late...,” Eidra slipped her arm into Loki's.  
“Your mother is right. We will continue lessons on the morrow.”

Fen raced ahead of them down the path, fighting off enemies with a slash of his invisible dagger, his own secured at his thigh.  
“I confess I heard what you were saying to Fen,” Eidra murmured, “I was of a mind to snatch the blade from you. It looked as though you were going to cut him.”  
Loki chewed his lip, “I could not...”  
“Loki!”  
He held up his hand, “Hear me out. Odin taught me to take care with my own dagger, pricking me on the finger to...” he couldn't help but smile, “...to make a point if you will, to show me how dangerous a weapon could be to both owner and enemy but when it came to Fen, I could not harm him. I could not bear to cause him pain.”  
Eidra watched Fen stop, turn and wave to them, then continue on, “Promise me you will teach him properly and in your own way, my love.”  
Loki lifted her hand, planting a lingering kiss upon her knuckles, “I will. Your confidence uplifts me.”  
Eidra gave him a sly grin, “And in the future, you shall talk with me of such important purchases instead of hiding them away like an imp.”  
Loki's eyes slid to hers, “Indeed I shall.”


End file.
